Although the number of 13- to 17-year-old boys and girls getting the human papillomavirus vaccine increased slightly in 2014 for the second year in a row, overall vaccinations rates still lag, according to data from the CDC's 2014 National Immunization Survey-Teen.
The data — published in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report — was gathered using a random-digit-dialed telephone survey of parents and guardians of teens 13 to17 years old. The 2014 survey included data for more than 20,000 adolescents. The telephone survey was followed by a mail survey that collects vaccination information from healthcare providers.
Highlighted below are three things to know about HPV and national vaccination rates among adolescents, according to the CDC report.
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1. Persistent HPV infections can cause cancers of the cervix, vagina and vulva in women; cancers of the penis in men; and cancers of the anus and oropharynx (back of the throat, base of the tongue and tonsils) in men and women.
2. Approximately 40 percent of adolescent girls and 60 percent of adolescent boys have not even started the recommended HPV vaccine series, leaving them vulnerable to cancers caused by HPV infections.
3. The most recent estimates show that 60 percent of adolescent girls and 42 percent of adolescent boys have received one or more doses of HPV vaccine, an increase of 3 percent for girls and 8 percent for boys compared to the 2013 NIS-Teen survey estimates.
According to Anne Schuchat, MD, assistant surgeon general and director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, a handful of state and local areas achieved much larger increases in vaccine coverage.
"The large increases in these diverse parts of the country show us it is possible to do much better at protecting our nation's youth from cancers caused by HPV infections," said Dr. Schuchat. "We are missing crucial opportunities to protect the next generation from cancers caused by HPV."
To read the full report, click here.
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